Over the past decade, capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), with its high peak capacity (i.e., the number of peaks separated per unit time), has developed into a powerful and widely used technique for separating ionic species by their electrophoretic mobilities. The lack of selectivity for uncharged analytes in CZE, however, has remained more problematic. Several methods have been developed, such as micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), to help overcome this problem by providing a pseudostationary phase in which uncharged compounds can be separated. The application of methods such as MEKC is limited because of the restricted number of pseudostationary phases that can be employed in this technique.
With the advent of capillary electrochromatography (CEC), where both chromatographic and electrophoretic transport mechanisms are combined, separation and analysis of mixtures of uncharged analytes can be achieved using low sample volumes with high resolution and efficiency. The increased interest in CEC for analytical applications arises from the large plate numbers and relatively high separation speeds achieved and the wide range of stationary phases (those commonly used in high-performance liquid chromatography) that can be used.
Although CEC has been applied in many different areas, packed-column preparation and low-detection sensitivity remain challenges of this technique. Capillary columns containing small silica packings have been the mainstay of CEC. One disadvantage of packed columns is the fabrication of porous frits of controlled pore sizes, lengths, and high mechanical stabilities. Although systematic studies regarding the effects of the frits on the performance of such capillaries have not been reported, it is thought that these frits can degrade the efficiencies of these capillary columns.
Nevertheless, where separation columns are desired with packing material requiring frits, it would be desirable to have simple and reproducible procedures for fabricating frits. The conventional method of frit fabrication for a particle-packed column involves thermal sintering of a section of the packing material, such as octadecyl silica particles (ODS). This approach has several disadvantages, including (1) difficulty in generating the frit reliably and reproducibly, (2) alteration of the characteristics of the stationary phase within the frit itself, (3) difficulty in controlling the porosity of the frit, (4) weakness of the capillary at the location of the frit, (5) band broadening caused by the frit, (6) bubble formation and adsorption of polar analytes on the frit. These problems can directly affect the column performance and column-to-column reproducibility.
Alternative approaches have been reported for the preparation of capillary columns that avoid the technical problems of frit fabrication and column preparation associated with slurry and electrokinetic packing. One approach uses bonded stationary phases. Capillary columns prepared in this manner, however, suffer from low retention and low sample capacities as well as long preparation times. An alternative method for the preparation of open tubular capillary columns uses monolithic packing technology. For example, preparation and characterization of monolithic porous capillary columns loaded with chromatographic particles based on sol-gel chemistry have been described (see, e.g., Dulay et al., Anal. Chem., 70, pp. 5103-5107, 1998). Monolithic capillary columns have received much attention because of the advantages offered in the control of permeability and surface charge.
A major challenge in CEC techniques is the detection of samples containing analytes at low concentration. The lack of sensitivity at low concentration stems from the small sample volume and the short optical path length for on-line detection. Dedicated sample preparation schemes that enrich the target analytes before sample injection are often necessary in order to obtain the necessary sensitivity for many real-world analyses. Schemes such as solvent-solvent extraction and solid-phase extraction are often very tedious and time-consuming.
An alternative to these schemes is on-line preconcentration. In gas chromatography, this goal is met by passing a gas stream through a cold column that is subsequently heated. In high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), this process is usually done by gradient HPLC in which the analytes are retained on the column much more strongly for the first solvent than for succeeding ones. On-line preconcentration has also enjoyed some success in electrophoretic separations. For example, in capillary electrophoresis (CE), these include isotachophoresis, sample stacking, sweeping, and the use of a dynamic pH junction. In CZE, it has been demonstrated that changes in electric field strength between sample and background solution zones can focus (i.e., stack), charged species (see, e.g., F. E. P. Mikkers, F. M. Everaerts, P. E. M. Verheggen, J. Chromatogr. 169 (1979), pp. 1-10 and R. L. Chien, D. S. Burgi, Anal. Chem. 64 (1992) pp. 489A-496A). In electrokinetic chromatography, it has been shown that micelles can act to concentrate (i.e., sweep) neutral and charged species (see, e.g., J. P. Quirino, S. Terabe, Science, 282 (1998) pp. 465-68 and J. P. Quirino, S. Terabe, Anal. Chem. 71(8) (1999) pp. 1638-44).
In CEC using particle (e.g., octadecyl silica) packed columns, focusing effects similar to that in gradient high performance liquid chromatography have been reported. These focusing effects were achieved using (1) step-gradient elution, (2) preparation of the sample in a noneluting solvent, or (3) injection of a water plug after sample injection. In M. R. Taylor, P. Teale, D. Westwood, D. Perrett, Anal. Chem. 69 (1997) pp. 2554-58, the authors were the first to report the use of a step-gradient for the preconcentration of steroidal samples in 1997. In D. A. Stead, R. G. Reid, R. B. Taylor, J. Chromatogr. A 798 (1998) pp. 259-67, the authors achieved a 17-fold increase in the detection sensitivity of a mixture of steroids by preconcentration using a noneluting sample matrix. In Y. Zhang, J. Zhu, L. Zhang, W. Zhang, Anal. Chem. 72 (2000) pp. 5744-47, the authors also used a noneluting solvent for the preconcentration of benzoin and mephenytoin by a factor of 134 and 219, respectively. In C. M. Yang, Z. El Rassi, Electrophoresis 20 (1999) pp. 2337-42, the authors reported on the preconcentration of a dilute sample of pesticides using a short plug of water injected after a long plug of sample. In M. J. Hilhorst, G. W. Somsen, G. J. de Jong, Chromatographia 53 (2001) pp. 190-96, the authors demonstrated preconcentration of structurally related steroids using a noneluting matrix and step-gradient elution. A gain in sensitivity of 7 to 9 times was reported. Similarly, in T. Tegeler, Z. El Rassi, Anal. Chem. 73(14) (2001) pp. 3365-72, the authors reported preconcentration of analytes in a mixture of carbamate insecticides using a combination of a noneluting matrix and step-gradient elution. The maximum allowable sample plug length was approximately 20 cm and a 500-fold sensitivity increase is achieved for carbofuran. A further increase in detection sensitivity was achieved by Zhang co-workers, who combined field-enhanced sample injection with solvent gradient elution. They demonstrated a 17,000-fold increase in peak height for a positively charged analyte, propatenene.
It is desirable to provide an easy to manufacture separation column with improved characteristics relative to the aforementioned methods.